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Description

Quick starter activity looking at the environmental impact of the fashion industry

Resources

(none)

Instructions

How It Works

Label Check (3 mins): Ask every Scout to look at the clothing labels on what they are currently wearing (necker, hoodie, t-shirt, trousers) and find two things:

What material it is made from (e.g., 100% Cotton, Polyester, Nylon, Acrylic).

Where it was made (e.g., Bangladesh, China, Turkey, UK).

The Human Map & Spectrum (4 mins):

Geography Check: Ask Scouts to shout out the country on their label. Quickly point out how many thousands of miles their clothes traveled to get to the UK before being worn.

The Plastic Line: Ask everyone wearing Polyester, Acrylic, or Nylon to step to the left side of the room, and those wearing 100% Cotton or Wool to step to the right.

The Reveal: Explain that the left side of the room is wearing plastic (fossil fuels). When washed, synthetic clothes shed microplastics into rivers and oceans.

❓ 3-Question Fast Fashion Quiz
Question 1: Water Footprint
"How much water does it take to make just one standard cotton t-shirt?"

A) 50 litres (about a bathtub)

B) 500 litres (about 5 wheelie bins)

C) 2,700 litres (enough for one person to drink for 2.5 years!) [CORRECT]

Leader Note: Cotton is an extremely thirsty crop. It takes thousands of litres of water just to grow the cotton needed for a single shirt.

Question 2: The Plastic in Clothes
"What percentage of the world’s clothing is made from synthetic plastic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic?"

A) About 10%

B) About 35%

C) Over 60% [CORRECT]

Leader Note: Polyester is essentially liquid plastic made from oil. Every time polyester clothes are washed, microscopic plastic threads (microplastics) wash out into rivers and oceans.

Question 3: What Happens to Old Clothes?
"Globally, what percentage of used clothing is actually recycled into new clothes?"

A) Less than 1% [CORRECT]

B) About 25%

C) Over 50%

Leader Note: While lots of people donate clothes to charity shops, global recycling technology for mixed fabrics is still very limited. Less than 1% actually gets turned into brand-new garments—the rest ends up in landfills, incinerated, or shipped overseas as waste.

Tags

• Environment
• Fashion
• Global issues

Badge Links

• Global Issues - Clothes
• World - International issue